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I'm not religious about this subject either way, but here are my thoughts:
I like the MIDI jack that Larry posted the photos of better than any other panel-mounted MIDI jack I've ever seen. It's attractive, looks solid, and will mount into a drilled hole. And it's black! Much better than screws and chrome ears.
As I said before, I don't personally care for non-patchcord cables in front of my modular, meaning MIDI or power. It's not that it's "one more cable," but I just don't like seeing cables "going around and behind." I can't even explain it; it just bugs me. That's why I want my power cables to go in the back and mount only a switch on the front. I'd rather have the MIDI go in the back, too, and expose only the ΒΌ" jacks that I will constantly USE up front. But I do realize eliminating the front panel jack causes problems for some people, and putting it up front makes it work for everybody.
Also, I concede that from a marketing perspective, it makes an instant impression when one looks at the front panel on the web site or in the catalog, without even reading the text. You see the MIDI, the jacks, and you mentally connect the dots.
For me, though, I will stick a MIDI cable in and that's where it will sit for the next 35 years, probably, so why have the cable in my way? I'm not going to move it around on a per-patch basis, and that is the only reason why we have patchcords draping down the front of our instruments. Until I rework my power situation, the power cable on my 900 bugs me, and the kids keep grabbing it, too. <g>
It has been brought up that live players WILL be plugging and unplugging, but then, what's so hard about going behind your instrument? For those of us building 2-ton hardwood cabinets pushed up against the wall of the studio, maybe that's an issue, but if you're already talking about your instrument moving around, then is it really so hard to plug in back? I own a lot of keyboard synthesizers, and they all have their MIDI plugs in back... I don't think that's ever caused anyone headaches before. Maybe I misunderstood something there.
Like I said, I'm easy either way. I'm glad Paul's providing internal connections, though, because personally I'll be rigging something with those instead of in front.